Boys Basketball: Potomac Falls Makes Bold Statement as Short-handed Panthers Blast Broad Run, 82-60

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun Editor

Sterling (Feb. 4, 2011) - There are statement games and then there are STATEment games and the later is what the Potomac Falls High School boys basketball team produced Thursday night as the defending Division 4 state champion Panthers, playing without All-State senior Lukas Mihailovich, blasted rival Broad Run, 82-60, to all but wrap up the Dulles District regular season title.

The win for Potomac Falls (13-0 in district, 18-1 overall), paced by senior Brendon Chesson (23 points) and junior Greg Graves (21 points), had to send shockwaves across not only the district but the region and state as well. If the Panthers, without all its starters, could handle a hot high-scoring Broad Run (10-2, 16-2) team, then how can they be denied a second straight state title when playing at full strength.

"All we heard about was that we had no chance playing without (Mihailovich)," said Graves of his teammate who had to sit out the game after an ejection in Monday's win over Loudoun County. "We just said we are going to play our game and beat them. We can do it with (Mihailovich) or we can do it without him if we play as a team."


And it was a team, demonstrating the depth of a squad that returned all five starters from last year's state title run and all but two players on the bench, that the Panthers shined Thursday as they out-hustled and out-played the Spartans from end to end in the final three quarters.

"This totally shocks me because I thought we were totally ready for tonight," said Broad Run coach John Costello. "I love my guys but I thought we didn't bring it for 32 minutes tonight."

The Panthers, playing with 6-foot-7 Graves and 6-foot-6 senior Mickey Wagenhoffer up front presented match-up problems for the Spartans as the height afforded Potomac Falls the luxury of going with three guards at times and this prevented the Spartans from working their fullcourt pressure efficiently.

Chesson, the odd man out of the talent-laden Panthers set offense at times, exploded past the Spartan defense for a season-high 23 points and Graves, controlling the block, scored over 20 points for just the third time on the season. The Panthers took up the scoring slack to account for Mihailovich's 19.2 average with senior role player Ben Sweger stepping into the spotlight with 13 points, his first double digit game of the season.

"A lot of us on this team have been playing ball together for five or six years. We know how to play with each other," said Sweger, who described the postgame lockerroom atmosphere as a "madhouse".

Potomac Falls -- with the help of seniors Pete Simoneau, Zach Curran and Alex Kress -- employed the same aggressive zone that help stop AAA Osbourn's unbeaten season two weeks ago to stymie the Spartans offense which at times settled for ill-advised jump shots behind the 3-point arc.

Simoneau, usually the first player off the bench for the Panthers, drew the start Thursday and defensively was all over the floor with an early dive for a loose ball in front of the packed Panther student section that got the home fans into the contest.

"I've been working really hard for this moment since my sophomore year," said the 5-foot-7 sparkplug Simoneau.

Broad Run sophomore Nigel Johnson scored a game-high 27 points but in the second half had to carry almost all the scoring workload for the Spartans. Senior Zach Rawson had 14 points for Broad Run but all but four of that came in the first half and senior Taylor Johnson was held to just half of his season average, scoring nine points.

"We were shooting three's all night and they were attacking the rim," said Costello.

Graves set the tone for the final three quarters as he hit a fadeway shot past the free thrown line as time ran out in the first quarter to give the Panthers a 20-17 lead and Broad Run, which briefly had a 3-point lead in the first quarter, would never get back in front.

The Panthers turned a 1-point game in the second quarter into a 10-point lead with an 11-2 stretch that saw Chesson drop a 3-pointer, Kress knock down an open jumper, Curran make a nifty spin move on a transition layin, Graves score on the fastbreak and Matt Hoover off the bench for a strong move down low.

Potomac Falls maintained that edge, moving into halftime ahead, 44-35, and 10 seconds into the second half it was Graves again setting the tone, driving the layin to overpower the Spartans block for two points and moments later Chesson barely wrinkled the net on another 3-pointer.

By the end of the third it was Potomac Falls, 60-48, as Broad Run scored just once in the final 3:56 of the quarter.

Wagenhoffer's breakaway layin three minutes into the final quarter put the Panthers up by 19 and the only moments later that game turned into a Panther highlight reel as Graves threatened to take the rim off on a dunk that may have missed but sent a big statement and then Chesson made a breathtaking twisting and turning drive to the basket for another two points.

"Don't ever count us out," said Potomac Falls coach Jeff Hawes as he ran back to the lockerroom after the game to talk to his celebrating team. Mihailovich, on his way back as well, was asked if he gave his teammates "two thumbs up" for their performance replied, "I'm going to give them all big hugs!".

As the Panthers were still soaking in the victory later on their homecourt with family and friends, a quiet Broad Run team slowly made their way to the icy parking lot. Costello wondered aloud how his team would react to the tough loss: "In life 10 percent is what happens to you and the other 90 percent is how you react to it."